500 jobs to go as Electrolux plant at Orange to close

Household appliances company Electrolux has announced it will close its factory at Orange in the central west of New South Wales in 2016.

The decision, made by the Swedish company in Stockholm, will mean the loss of around 544 jobs at what is the last refrigerator manufacturing operation in Australia.

Electrolux makes 1,300 fridges and freezers everyday at the plant to be sold under its name and brands including Westinghouse and Kelvinator, and contributes more than $70 million to the local economy each year.

The managing director of Electrolux Home Products Australia and New Zealand, John Brown, says the plant will continue to make large family-sized fridges and chest freezers until mid to late 2015.

"The company's exhaustive investment study, announced earlier this year, concluded that Electrolux is able to manufacture refrigerators currently made here more cost effectively in other factories in Asia and Eastern Europe," Dr Brown said.

The high Australian dollar coupled with high labour costs has made it difficult for the Orange plant to compete with overseas factories.

Dr Brown says the factory's employees will all receive their full entitlements under existing workplace agreements for the site.

Electrolux has been one of the biggest employers in Orange since it began manufacturing in the town in 1946.

Before that the site was used as a small arms munitions factory during World War II.

A 'king-hit' to Australian manufacturing

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union says it's been a terrible fortnight for central west manufacturing jobs, with the announced closure of Downer EDI's rail manufacturing plant and over 100 food manufacturing jobs cut from Simplot at Bathurst yesterday.

The union's NSW secretary, Tim Ayres, has called on federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane to get on the first plane to Stockholm to secure the future of the Orange Electrolux employees.

"A decision by Swedish whitegoods giant Electrolux overnight that it will wind down production at Orange and close the plant... is a king-hit to jobs and Australia's manufacturing capacity," Mr Ayres said.

"Saving these jobs and saving this manufacturing capacity should be the number one priority for the Industry Minister right now," said Mr Ayres.

Mr Macfarlane toured the Orange plant earlier this month.

Today Mr Macfarlane said he had been in negotiations with Electrolux to keep the factory open, but believed the company had made its mind up some time ago.

"I'm very disappointed in the decision," he said.

"I did speak to the global CEO Keith McLoughlin earlier this week in one last ditch attempt to delay the decision but, unfortunately for the workers in Orange, the decision's been made."

Dr Brown says Electrolux held positive talks with both sides of politics before and after the federal election.

"In the end a compelling business case could not be made for investing the necessary funds to upgrade the Orange plant for the company's future manufacturing needs in the Asia-Pacific region," he said.

He says Electrolux will continue to employ 1,100 people in Australia after the closure, including workers at its cooking products facility at Dudley Park in Adelaide.